Rockies' young left-hander Drew Pomeranz armed with rare poise

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Drew Pomeranz didn't have an ounce of magic in his left arm last season in a late-September game against Houston.

The Astros opened the game with six consecutive hits for the first time in their 49-year history in an 11-2 romp over the Rockies. As the shelling continued, the 22-year-old Pomeranz remained stone-faced.

"You have to flush it," Pomeranz said. "As a pitcher, you can't afford to get too ticked off. Just flush it if something bad happens. That's the way I was raised to play baseball."

Five days later, in the season finale against the Giants, Pomeranz got up off the mat, throwing 5 ⅔ innings and allowing three runs on six hits in the Rockies' 6-3 victory.

"He's poised beyond his years," manager Jim Tracy said of Pomeranz, now 23. "And that was eye-popping for me, to see a young guy do that and not go completely into the think tank five days after the Houston start."

Said Rockies pitching coach Bob Apodaca: "Somebody at that tender age, and who has the arm strength that he possesses, usually isn't that composed. They have a fire in their belly and they tend to want to impress with velocity. Drew doesn't do that. He doesn't get flustered, and he has extreme confidence in himself."

Pomeranz's size (6-foot-5, 240 pounds) and demeanor, combined with a power fastball, a big curve and an effective changeup, could make him a front-of-the-rotation starter. At least that was the Rockies' hope when they traded Ubaldo Jimenez to Cleveland last summer in exchange for Pomeranz and right-hander Alex White.

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Playing baseball is a longtime Pomeranz family passion. His great-grandfather, a 6-foot, 255-pounder named Garland Buckeye, pitched for the Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators and New York Giants from 1918-28.

Pomeranz's father, Mike, earned four letters as an infielder at Ole Miss in the late 1970s. Drew's older brother, Stuart, is in camp with the Orioles as a reliever.

"My dad was a really big baseball guy who helped coach me and thought the game should be played the right way," Pomeranz said, remembering some visits to the mound by his father during the formative years. "If I was doing something out there, whining, complaining, moping, he would just say, 'Shut up and do your job.' "

Mike Pomeranz always knew his son was the biggest, most talented kid on the block in their hometown of Collierville, Tenn. When Drew was a high school freshman, his dad became convinced his son could become an elite player.

"He was just a freshman in high school, just a 15-year-old kid, and they made him the closer," Mike Pomeranz recalled. "He was out there with the game on the line, and and he took care of business like he was a senior. He just stayed so calm."

Pomeranz's baseball pedigree was being honed even before his lights-out career at Collierville High (20-6 record, 11 saves, 2.21 ERA, 312 strikeouts, 91 walks in 181 innings). Private pitching lessons with Mauro "Goose" Gozzo, a former major-league pitcher who also played for the Double-A Memphis Chicks in 1987-88, taught Pomeranz about the mental part of the game.

This spring, the education continues. Pomeranz's locker is next to 49-year-old Jamie Moyer's. The Rockies also teamed Moyer and Pomeranz as catch partners. That was no accident.

But don't be fooled. The mental side of the game, and Pomeranz's poker face, mask a burning competitive fire.

"There is stuff going on inside me," he said. "But I have always been told to go out there and pitch like you can't tell if you just struck somebody out or just gave up a home run. If something bad happens, I don't dwell on it. Just give me the ball and let me pitch."

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